While many people look back on their high school days with fond­ness, most of us agree that the train­ing we got there could have been bet­ter. A healthy ma­jor­ity of Amer­ic­ans think that changes to their high school ex­per­i­ence, such as more in­ter­ac­tion with guid­ance coun­selors and help de­vel­op­ing study skills, would have im­proved their edu­ca­tion, ac­cord­ing to the latest Col­lege Board/Na­tion­al Journ­al Next Amer­ica Poll.

Sup­port was highest for the kinds of changes that would have im­pacted re­spond­ents’ post-high-school em­ploy­ment and edu­ca­tion­al op­por­tun­it­ies. Asked about the chance to have more tech­nic­al and job-skills train­ing, a full 72 per­cent said that would have made their high school edu­ca­tion bet­ter. Only 2 per­cent thought those ser­vices would have changed their ex­per­i­ence for the worse.

In the same vein, 63 per­cent wanted more in­ter­ac­tion with guid­ance coun­selors “about op­tions avail­able after high school,” and 66 per­cent thought “bet­ter in­struc­tion to de­vel­op study skills” would have im­proved their high school ex­per­i­ence. Young Amer­ic­ans are par­tic­u­larly aware of how im­port­ant good ca­reer and col­lege coun­sel­ing can be: 75 per­cent of those between the ages of 18 and 29 re­por­ted want­ing more in­ter­ac­tion with coun­selors, as did 78 per­cent of cur­rent stu­dents.

The idea of get­ting more help de­vel­op­ing good study habits also at­trac­ted strong sup­port, with col­lege gradu­ates and re­spond­ents with some col­lege edu­ca­tion most will­ing to say they would have be­nefited (70 and 69 per­cent, re­spect­ively, com­pared with 61 per­cent of those with a high school edu­ca­tion or less).

While more op­por­tun­it­ies for tech­nic­al and job-skills train­ing earned the highest back­ing from re­spond­ents — 72 per­cent over­all thought it would have im­proved their high school edu­ca­tion — there were no sig­ni­fic­ant dif­fer­ences in sup­port by party, race, or in­come.

There was one high school in­nov­a­tion — ex­tend­ing the school day — that not many Amer­ic­ans could sup­port. Even if you had the time of your life in high school, it ap­pears, that didn’t mean you wanted to spend more of your life there. In­ter­est­ingly, the only ex­cep­tion was among Amer­ic­ans who didn’t end up go­ing on to col­lege. While only 18 per­cent of all re­spond­ents thought a longer school day would have been a good idea, 28 per­cent of blacks with less than a col­lege edu­ca­tion and 31 per­cent of His­pan­ics with the same said an ex­ten­ded high school day would have made their edu­ca­tion bet­ter.

The Col­lege Board/Na­tion­al Journ­al Next Amer­ica Poll, con­duc­ted by Prin­ceton Sur­vey Re­search As­so­ci­ates In­ter­na­tion­al, sur­veyed 1,271 adults, in­clud­ing over­samples of Afric­an-Amer­ic­ans, His­pan­ics, and Asi­an-Amer­ic­ans, from March 18-26. The in­ter­views were con­duc­ted by land­line and cell phone in Eng­lish and Span­ish. The poll has a mar­gin of er­ror of plus or minus 3.9 per­cent­age points for the en­tire sample, and lar­ger mar­gins for ra­cial sub­groups.

"The Senate standstill over a stopgap spending bill appeared headed toward a resolution on Friday night. Senators who were holding up the measure said votes are expected later in the evening. West Virginia Democrat Joe Manchin had raised objections to the continuing resolution because it did not include a full year's extension of retired coal miners' health benefits," but Manchin "said he and other coal state Democrats agreed with Senate Democratic leaders during a caucus meeting Thursday that they would not block the continuing resolution, but rather use the shutdown threat as a way to highlight the health care and pension needs of the miners."

Source:

UNCLEAR WHAT CAUSED CHANGE OF HEART

Giuliani Out of Running For State

7 hours ago

BREAKING

Donald Trump transition team announced Friday afternoon that top supporter Rudy Giuliani has taken himself out of the running to be in Trump's cabinet, though CNN previously reported that it was Trump who informed the former New York City mayor that he would not be receiving a slot. While the field had seemingly been narrowed last week, it appears to be wide open once again, with ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson the current favorite.

Source:

BEGINS AT MIDNIGHT ABSENT SENATE ACTION

Feds Begin Prepping for Government Shutdown

8 hours ago

THE LATEST

Given the Senate's inaction on the continuing budget resolution (so far), the White House "said it has begun to work with agencies to prepare for the possibility of a large swath of the federal workforce being furloughed without pay beginning at midnight." Even if a shutdown occurs, however, "Senate procedures will allow the chamber to approve the CR with only a handful of Democrats in support by Sunday morning. Of the roughly 900,000 federal employees who were subject to furloughs in agencies’ most recent calculations, most would not be materially impacted as they do not work on weekends."

Source:

ALSO VICE-CHAIR OF TRUMP’S TRANSITION TEAM

Trump Taps Rep. McMorris Rodgers for Interior Secretary

12 hours ago

BREAKING

SHUTDOWN LOOMING

House Approves Spending Bill

1 days ago

BREAKING

The House has completed it's business for 2016 by passing a spending bill which will keep the government funded through April 28. The final vote tally was 326-96. The bill's standing in the Senate is a bit tenuous at the moment, as a trio of Democratic Senators have pledged to block the bill unless coal miners get a permanent extension on retirement and health benefits. The government runs out of money on Friday night.